My invention relates to the field of merchandising machines and, more particularly, to an all-purpose merchandising machine, which is adapted to vend a plurality of articles having a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
There are known in the prior art merchandising machines of the type which are installed in manufacturing plant or office, dining areas for dispensing a wide variety of articles of merchandise having different shapes and sizes. Such merchandising machines have come into very wide use to permit of the purchase by a customer of a complete meal, including an entree, such as a hot plate or the like, as well as desserts and so forth, without requiring an attended counter. One such general merchandising machine is disclosed in Mueller et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,838, issued Sept. 8, 1964. In the arrangement disclosed in the Mueller et al patent, a plurality of columns of merchandise carrying compartment-forming members are supported for movement along a generally rectangular path, first past a viewing window in the door of the merchandising machine and then past a plurality of transparent access doors. Means is provided for selectively positioning one column of merchandise compartments behind the access doors. With the column of compartments so positioned and following the deposit in the machine of the purchase price of a desired article behind a particular door, that door can be opened to permit access to the compartment for delivery of the article of the merchandise carried therein. Kurimsky U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,131 issued Aug. 15, 1972 for Merchandising Machine with Size-Adjustable Compartments discloses an improvement on the Mueller et al machine, by virtue of which the height of the respective compartments in a column can be varied over the height of the column.
While the merchandising machines disclosed in the patents mentioned hereinabove effectively vend a relatively wide range of articles of merchandise, they are not as flexible as is required in the present market in which it is desirable that a full meal, including a hot plate, for example, be available to a prospective customer. While the Kurimsky patent discloses an arrangement for varying the heights of the respective compartments of a column, no means is shown therein or in the Mueller et al patent for varying the widths of the compartments of the machine from level to level, so as to afford an arrangement which, for example, permits the delivery of relatively wide articles, such as full platters in a number of levels of the machine, while at the same time permitting other levels of the machine to deliver relatively narrower articles, such for example as sandwiches and desserts, and the like.
In addition to the defect described hereinabove, machines of the type shown in Mueller et al embody a number of disadvantages. In order to achieve a relatively effective display of the articles of merchandise contained in the various columns of carriers, the carriers are caused to move around a generally rectangular path. This arrangement results in a machine which is relatively complicated in construction and operation and, consequently, expensive to construct and difficult to maintain. While other patents of the prior art disclose merchandise carriers comprising generally circular tiers of compartments adapted to move past access doors in the front of the cabinet, such machines do not afford as effective a display of the articles of merchandise on the carrier as is desired. In addition to the defects pointed out hereinabove, merchandising machine of the prior art have compartments formed of opaque material. As a result, since you don't know in what position the last customer left the carrier you cannot tell what is left in the machine.